Collector Chats With Peter S. Seibert

This Week: Buying Art

YouTube videos of young couples talking about making their first art purchases. The narrative usually entails one or both talking about how they purchased a Salvador Dali or Marc Chagall limited-edition signed print. This spurred them on to collect more and more, and now they are committed buyers.

By Peter Seibert

The topic of this column has been one that I have written about extensively over the years. Usually the topic comes to my attention when I watch

I cringe at these stories. The book “The Great Dali Art Fraud and Other Deceptions” by Lee Cattrall does a masterful job of exposing the deceptive advertising around many of the prints by modern masters being sold. It is a book worth reading if only to make you wince and shudder a few dozen times at the nature of the frauds that are outlined on the pages.

Buying art is intimidating, and I would be remiss in not addressing that right up front. Budding collectors are often accosted by overtly enthusiastic salespeople who are busy trying to make the sale rather than educating the buyer. Buying art does take time and an investment in building your individual eye to identify pieces that you like and are also of quality.

To me, the toughest part about buying art is suspending your knowledge of an artist in order to make an assessment. People will know to look for a given artist, and when they find a painting by them, they will mentally whoop with joy about the discovery. “Look, it’s a Walter Emerson Baum,” or, “Hey…it’s a Victor Shearer.” That discovery of a work by named artists can then blind your ability to understand the quality of the work. In particular, I call out Walter Emerson Baum (Bucks County School painter) and Victor Shearer (Reading, Pa., painter), whose respective volumes of work are substantial and sadly the consistent quality of the works is often lacking. To be blunt, when they were good, they were very good, and when they were having a bad day, their paintings were lacking. Thus all Baums or Shearers are not equal. Buying one just because of the signature is to risk getting a work that is not a beauty to behold.

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19711 Newark 302-454-8007

AUNT MARGARET’S ANTIQUE MALL, 294 E. Main St. Mon- Sat. 10-5, Sun 12-5. 2 floors. Antiques, collectibles, vintage, primitives, much more! www.auntmargaretsantiquemall.com

19711 Newark 302-733-7677

MAIN STREET ANTIQUES, 23 Possum Park Mall. Summer Hrs.: Mon.-Sat. 128, Sun. 12 - 5. Over 45 Showcase/ Room Dealers selling quality antiques & collectibles. mainstreetantiques.com

20758 Friendship410-286-5932

FRIENDSHIP ANTIQUES 3 W. Friendship Rd. In an 1806 Parsonage offering a wide range of Antiques, Art, Jewelry, Glassware, Collectibles, Fossils and Minerals. Thurs.-Sun. 11-5. 21901 North East410-287-8318 5 & 10 ANTIQUE MARKET, 115 S. Main St. Daily 10am-6pm. Cecil County’s largest! Approx. 65 dealers, variety & nostalgia. Buying/ selling antiques & collectibles. Local honey available.

07052 West Orange973-323-1711

VALLEY VINTAGE, 168 South Valley Rd. Open Mon-Sat. 11-6, Sun. 12-5. 2100 sq.ft., 25+ dealers. Antiques, vintage, collectibles, furniture, decor, kitchenware, jewelry, books, LPs, ephemera.

07901 Summit 908-273-9373 SUMMIT ANTIQUES CENTER, 511 Morris Ave. 2 floors, 50+ dealers. Antiques, collectibles. Smalls to furniture. Open 7 days 11-5. Free Parking. www.thesummitantiquescenter.com

Collectors

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One of the toughest tests of any budding art collector is to purchase an unsigned painting solely on the basis of the quality of the work. This requires one to really hone your eye and test your resolve that what you see in the work, albeit being unsigned, is worthy of bringing home. I would encourage every budding art collector to find such a work. Analyze it, study it, acknowledge its strengths and weaknesses, and then buy it!

08005 Barnegat609-698-3020 BAY AVENUE ANTIQUES, 349 S. Main. Open Wed.- Sun., Noon - 6 PM. Book Seller, Pottery, Glass, Furniture, Holiday, Decoys, Antiques & UniquesPLUS Chalkpaint & Iron Orchid Design.

08016 Burlington609-747-8333 HISTORIC BURLINGTON ANTIQUES & ART EMPORIUM, 424 High Street. Open 6 Days, Tues.-Sun.: T, W, F, Sat., Sun: 11A-5P; Th.&F.: 11A-7P; Closed on Monday. www.antiquesnj.com

08037 Hammonton609-561-1110 BERNIE’S ANTIQUES & ARTIFACTS, 18 Central Ave Tues.-Sat. 11-6 & Sun. 11-5. Trains, Pottery, Lenox, Breweriana, Fenton, Petroliana, Van Briggle, Albums + Neon Signs. Qty.Dlrs. Invited.

08062 Mullica Hill 856-478-9810 OLD MILL ANTIQUE MALL, 1 S. Main Street. Open Daily, 11-5; Sat. 10-5. Antiques, glassware, records, coins, stamps, military items, collectible toys, trains, linens, books & ephemera.

08081 Sicklerville856-545-3187 CARNIVAL OF COLLECTABLES, 368 Cross Keys Rd. Open Wed.- Sat. 10am6pm, Sun. 10am-5pm. 12,000 sq.ft Antique & Arts Mall, over 100 dlrs. www.carnivalofcollectables.com

08096 Woodbury856-205-3075 EVERGREEN ANTIQUES & MORE, 429 S. Evergreen Ave. Multi-dealer, 60+ dealers. 20,000 sq. ft., 1 floor ADA Compliant. Qty. antiques & collectibles. Huge, free parking. Mon.-Sat. 11 am-6 pm; Sun. 11am-5pm

Hanging in our dining room is a massive painting of a stream with a snow scene. The painting came from an auction run by my old friend Ted Wiederseim. The quality of the brushwork is magnificent, the scale of the painting is substantial and the composition is well balanced, but it is completely unsigned. I gambled on the work because I saw a painting of quality. It looked to be of the Bucks County School style in terms of its brushwork and subject matter, but it was unsigned. I pulled the trigger at the auction

ANTIQUE & GIFT MALL, 43 N. Market St. Antiques, Collectibles, Furniture, Quality Handmade Crafts & Gifts. Open 7 days 10-5, Fri. til 8. Millerstown exit off RT 322.

17307 Biglerville717-503-4264

THIELEMANN’S ANTIQUES, 1 N. Main St. Wholesale & Retail. 4,500 sq. ft. furn. & smalls. See our Thielemann’s Antqs. Facebook page for photos & info. Open Sat. 10-4 & Sun. 12-4.

17350 NewOxford717-624-3800

ZELMA’S EMPORIUM (Formerly Golden Lane) 11 N. Water Street. Antiques, Americana, Art, Asian, Primitives, etc. Closed Mon., Tues.-Sat. 10-5, Sun. 12-5 or by appt. ZelmasAntiques.com

17361 Shrewsbury717-235-6637

SHREWSBURY ANTIQUE CENTER 65 N. Highland Dr. “A True Antique Mall” Over 10,000 sq.ft. with over 60 dealers. Open 7 days, 10-5. Ample parking. Close to other shops in historic village.

18944 Perkasie215-257-3564 and bought it for less than I had thought it would sell for. The reason it was not a big seller was the absence of a signature. Did that make the painting less good? Not at all. It will hang in our dining room for a very long time as a great landscape by that incredibly talented and prolific artist, anonymous.

TREASURE TROVE, 6 S. 7th Street.

Estate jewelry, furniture, linens, vintage clothing, glass, china, books, toys, kitchenware, advertising, postcards. Primitives to Deco. Dealers Welcome. Mon.-Sat. 10-5. In business 42 years.

“Born to collect” should be the motto of Peter Seibert’s family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seibert’s writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years’ worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.

CONNECTICUT

06/24/23, GETTYSBURG, OUTDOOR MKT.: SAT. 8-2 (STORE/WRHSE. SALE: 9-5), Outdoor Antique Market, 2885 York Rd., Gettysburg, PA

Antique Quebec Furniture Dominates Sale